Christmas in Ireland is a time for family gatherings. In periods of high emigration, this often meant thousands returning home for the holidays. After Christmas, there would be a mass departure.

Jim Fahy reports from Knock Airport as thousands of those who had been home for Christmas leave Irish shores again. One crying woman tells of her four children who have been forced to emigrate due to local unemployment. An elderly man states that he is still Irish even though he left over fifty years ago and he will never be granted a vote in Ireland.

A RTÉ News report on emigrants leaving Ireland again after the Christmas holidays. Broadcast 5 January 1994.

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